Many to Many

Is there anyone out there who can create a many to many relationship between manufacturers and categories and manufacturers and products or can you recommend a different platform to opencart that can - I absolutely need this for my industry - I've been using opencart for years and trying to work around it but bespoke competition is out gunning me as their very expensive platforms have it - Its the only place opencart falls down in my view and it would be king of all carts if it had it.

Can anyone with the necessary qualifications do this? - I'm desperate for it

I fail to see how manufacturers could reflect on categories rather than products since the distribution of the products and services from manufacturers are identified with the product SKUs that they provide. There are no category SKUs that may specifically exist ...

Then you fail to see it !
Trust me - its a necessity for what I need so the first post applies to someone who can change the database structure in opencart - Its a complicated one to explain so if you feel its something you can do I will explain it to you. The current toolset with opencart out of the box and extensions filters etc just doesn't cut it. I need a many to many relationship between Manufacturers to categories and I need to be able to map an individual product to many manufacturers

Iamdbat wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 23, 2017 12:21 am

Then you fail to see it !
Trust me - its a necessity for what I need so the first post applies to someone who can change the database structure in opencart - Its a complicated one to explain so if you feel its something you can do I will explain it to you. The current toolset with opencart out of the box and extensions filters etc just doesn't cut it. I need a many to many relationship between Manufacturers to categories and I need to be able to map an individual product to many manufacturers

In this case, can you explain the process step-by-step in theory on how this would work and if there are no extensions provided already for it on the marketplace?

Options with SKU?
And filter by option for categories.

Options are related to Product Options once a product has been assigned basically, not with categories still. The distinction would be the same with Options SKU.

straightlight wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 23, 2017 3:48 am

Iamdbat wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 23, 2017 12:21 am

Then you fail to see it !
Trust me - its a necessity for what I need so the first post applies to someone who can change the database structure in opencart - Its a complicated one to explain so if you feel its something you can do I will explain it to you. The current toolset with opencart out of the box and extensions filters etc just doesn't cut it. I need a many to many relationship between Manufacturers to categories and I need to be able to map an individual product to many manufacturers

In this case, can you explain the process step-by-step in theory on how this would work and if there are no extensions provided already for it on the marketplace?

OK - will try and hold yer attention as best I can - I realise there are work arounds but work arounds take too much time

First of all I'm in the parts business and its very complicated with over 500 manufacturers ..... many categories .... many model numbers etc

1: In the footer of opencart is a term called BRAND. When you click on brand you have a list of manufacturers alphabetically - so far so good. Here is the 'but' - Opencart will list all products based on that brand. This is no good! - A category structure is needed under that brand. Let me first explain why .... when Joe Soap is looking for a part they are looking for the quickest path to what they are looking for. A lot of people aren't versed in the use of filters etc and filters do have a use later on but on this bit a category structure is required. Its essential due to the way people will approach looking for what they want.

2: Each product or part that I sell can be used with a lot of manufacturers .... not just 1 (I know I know ... your thinking filters again) but wait .... The list of filters would be enormous with an enormous amount of work just for a single part.

So envision this

Your in admin creating a part .... you go to links ...... you select your categories .... WOULDN'T it be great to be able to select a list of manufacturers aswell .... just like categories? (I know filters are cropping in your head again ... fight that thought) - think category structure for manufacturers.

This is just the start by way of explaination coz I don't want to lose you .... I can go into much greater detail if you are interested.

Can I also say that developers in and around opencart NEED new ideas! ..... there are a million extensions in the marketplace with everybody trying to do the same thing - if you guys want new ideas - I can provide a few ... cascading filter queries would be one for starters

Ah ! I see, so you are rather referring to Group Manufacturers which would be normally more relevant for Industries, Fabrics and large Enterprises purposes. There is an available extension and free for this: https://www.opencart.com/index.php?rout ... n_id=20784 . Although, it may simply require some tweaking for v3.x releases compatibility.

Tried that one ..... although free .... it has fall downs ...... but there is more to it than that .... a many to many would be the correct approach leaving a lot more scope for developement

If you'd like to have extended functionalities, could you enumerate them on your next reply so to see how an extension could be developed in order to fit your requirements in details with step-by-step features you'd like to use with the group manufacturers?

Leave that one with me ..... Can I pm you with greater detail and examples at some stage?

Yes, no problem.

Iamdbat wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 23, 2017 11:02 pm

Tried that one ..... although free .... it has fall downs ...... but there is more to it than that .... a many to many would be the correct approach leaving a lot more scope for developement

I haven't read the whole thread, but how about this many to many extension?

https://www.opencart.com/index.php?rout ... 20products

Or one of these:

https://www.opencart.com/index.php?rout ... 20products

https://www.opencart.com/index.php?rout ... 20products

Thank you for replies but I am not looking for a filter or an extension that relates products .... If I had found an extension in the store that does what I need I would already have it .... hence the original post .... I am not looking for workarounds I am looking for a database change

In this case, you'd need to elaborate with step-by-step guidance and the click-per-click process with provided URL examples on what exactly you are trying to achieve. Granted, already owning the extension wouldn't necessarily require the need to acquire a new extension. Although, it does not despite the fact that the announced extension on the marketplace would need to explain in details with clean provided example on what this particular extension can do.

Iamdbat wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 24, 2017 11:20 pm

Thank you for replies but I am not looking for a filter or an extension that relates products .... If I had found an extension in the store that does what I need I would already have it .... hence the original post .... I am not looking for workarounds I am looking for a database change

I was just going by the description of the extension (that could actually easily modify the database). I haven't used it so I don't know but in the description we have:

This OpenCart related products by Manufacturer module will allow you to quickly relate Manufacturers to each other .

FEATURES

Relate one or many to many products at once
Filter products by price range
Relate products by Manufacturer
Relate one or many product Manufacturers to single or many product Manufacturers
Delete Related products for given Manufacturer of main products
- one Manufacturer to many Manufacturers Related products
- many Manufacturers to one Manufacturer Related products
- one Manufacturer to one Manufacturer Related products
- one product to all products by a Manufacturer Related products
- many to many or one products Related products

As you can see it says that it does many to many for either manufacturer and/or products.
That's why I suggested. If you have already try this extension, what was the problem? Does it change the database structure?
Is this extension not working as advertised?

If your interested take a look at Smartstore or Nopcommerce - They both have Manufacturer Mapping and Category Mapping

This means that you can have multiple manufacturers per product which is what I am after

Surely there is a serious developer and database expert out there that has the expertise to tackle this (very obvious to me, of course) requirement. Why Opencart developers can't see the need for this is really beyond me - it's a serious flaw in my view - nearly every brand out there for any product is badged in the real world - why can't what would seem a realistic and real world approach be taken on? Surely ther is somebody?

Iamdbat wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:41 am

Surely there is a serious developer and database expert out there that has the expertise to tackle this (very obvious to me, of course) requirement. Why Opencart developers can't see the need for this is really beyond me - it's a serious flaw in my view - nearly every brand out there for any product is badged in the real world - why can't what would seem a realistic and real world approach be taken on? Surely ther is somebody?

You still haven't answer my question two post above...

So again, is this extension not working as advertised?
Not much point in asking for help if you can't even answer a simple question like that.

You asked for an extension that allows "many to many" for Manufacture and/or products. So I pointed out to you an extension that claim of doing just that. Have you try it? Did you try to contact the developer? What is the actual problem? I'm sure he can customize for you particular need (if required...)

If you are a serious customer, lets try to follow a simple path. You tell us what's wrong with that extension mentioned above regarding the many to many option and we can try to help... But if you can't tell us why this extension is not good for your needs, it makes it a bit hard to follow your reasoning....